


Frosted-Over Gears

by That-one-Valfrost-shipper (sparrowsong07)



Series: frosted-over gears [1]
Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012), The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: A lot of dialogue from ROTG script, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Emotional Hurt, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I don't own it, I wrote this for myself but you can read it if you'd like, M/M, Multi, My rough draft for this fic is on ao3 too but i orphaned it idk, Or I guess I should say Snow Burn?, Other, Psychological Torture, Self-Indulgent, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2020-12-07 13:30:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 13,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20976695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparrowsong07/pseuds/That-one-Valfrost-shipper
Summary: Leo is tired of everything. Camp, the seven, being a demigod.He's just... tired.So he does the only logical thing and leaves with Festus.Enter the guardians, an unfairly attractive Jack Frost, and another all-powerful creep bent on world domination.Fun.





	1. Leo

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Frosted-over gears and another Disney supervillan](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18572554) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 

> Check out the first draft!  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/18572554/chapters/44025382

Leo was tired. 

Not that he was ever _ not _ tired, but he was just more tired than usual. Maybe it was the fact he and Festus had been flying since early that morning, maybe it was because he didn't know where he was on the globe. But that was just as well, if he didn't know where he was or where he was going then no one else would either. Or maybe it was the war. Or losing his mom. Or all the soul-crushing loneliness he’s been through as his friends slowly gained their own lives but he remained stagnant. Or maybe it was dying, actually feeling the burning heat as he and Festus lit up the sky to take out Gaea.

Another thing about _ that _ was he and Festus were now tied together, in a way. They died together, Festus got taken out by Leo’s blaze. They were reborn together since Festus had a soul and the cure had resided inside him. Nico had explained it, how despite the fact that Festus was a mechanical dragon, he had a soul. And now Leo could _ feel _ Festus. Their emotions, their instincts, everything. And vice versa. Leo was a little bit of a dragon, in a way, and Festus a little human.

Weird, right?

But again, Leo was just...tired. He didn't have anybody except Festus. Even Calypso, the girl he died for _ because no one should ever experience that kind of loneliness. _ She didn't want anything to do with him after she was freed. _ I mean; I get it. _ She had been trapped for hundreds of years, of course, she would want anything except staying in one spot. Whereas Leo thought that maybe, _ maybe, _he had found a home at camp, as nothing more than a workhorse or a jester.

He was wrong. That mask didn't work out well either. Time to pack up and leave. 

At least he had someone. Someone who _ wanted _ to stay. Leo knew, considering that he and Festus were connected, and the gentle flashes of warmth and friendship he could feel from Festus every now and again. _ Gods _ he missed that feeling.

Although he didn't know where they were _ exactly _, his best guess would be somewhere in the Southeastern part of Asia. There were also mountains, that might be important.

Leo feels...something.

Not really any discernible feeling, but it was like a cold vice around Leo’s chest. 

Cold.

Festus creaks.

Something is coming.

Hummingbirds stream out the side of a mountain. They were iridescent, shining brightly when the sun hit their feathers. 

Because of Festus’ better vision, Leo can make out the hummingbirds’ faces. _ That's not a hummingbird. _Leo has heard of fairies before, and it's not that weird, considering that he was a demigod who just so happened to have a dragon as a best friend. 

They looked scared like something was chasing them.

Seconds later, Leo wishes he didn't ask.

Beings that look like pure darkness are in pursuit of the fairies, black sandy shadow that sort of resemble horses if they were birthed by eldritch beings.

Leo watches as a shadow horse catches up to one of the fairies. His stomach drops as he watches the beast _ eat _ it.

More shadow horses stream out, each chasing a fairy. This isn't simply survival of the fittest, this looks like a massacre.

Festus swoops below the chaos, trying to make them less of a target. Leo is angry. He can't just sit here, he has to do _ something _.

He types out a message on Festus’ skull.

.. / .-- .- -. - / - --- / .... . .-.. .--.

Festus pulls up, just enough for Leo to reach. He pulls out a small dagger from his toolbelt and levels it toward a shadow horse. The horse, of which Leo can see much more monstrous features, runs into Leo’s blade. Black sand coats him and Festus, but no fairies appear. 

Leo feels a waver in the air, like something is splitting it open, before a _ sleigh pulled by reindeer _ comes careening out of a hole in the sky that was not there before. It looked like the opening sequence of Doctor Who type of wormhole-esque hole.

Leo can't see what maniacs are piloting said sleigh, but he can hear their sounds of surprise as they notice the demonic ponies. 

“They're taking the Tooth fairies!”

A young voice, no more than 16, is heard. A kid. Maybe a demigod? Sleighs are sort of like chariots, but then again-

_ Did he say _ Tooth _ fairies? _

The owner of the voice, a boy in a blue hoodie literally _ leaps _out of the sleigh, snatching a fairy before it can be gulped down by one of the monsters. Somehow, he gently lands back in the sleigh.

_Maybe not demigods, but _ something _ unnatural, that's for sure._

Someone leans over the side of the sleigh, looking out. It's a rabbit. A giant, anthropomorphic rabbit.

“Oi! We might have a larger problem!”

_Correction: giant Australian rabbit._

A big older man leans out the side, catching a glimpse of Leo and Festus. Not knowing what else to do, Leo gives a shy wave. The man smiles and pushes the reindeer forward.

“Hyah!” He calls.

The sleigh bursts forward and goes around the side of the mountain. All the other monsters have escaped.

With the fairies.

_Dammit. Add another failure to the scrapbook._

Leo follows the sleigh of misfits. The other side of the mountain reveals a large palace, glimmering in the sun.

The sleigh weaves through pillars, Festus hot on their heels, until it finally glides to a stop across the floor. Big man jumps out, followed by the rabbit, the boy who has _ snow-white _hair, and a small golden man.

“Who are you?” Demands big man.

Leo holds up his hands in surrender, “my name is Leo; and this is Festus.” He jerks his head toward his dragon companion.

“You are a spirit?”

“Uhh, no. I'm a demigod? Son of Hephaestus.”

For some reason, Leo feels as if he can trust this man.

“Are long way from home.”

Leo averts his eyes, he really doesn't feel like being bashed by Russian Santa Claus. Because that's what he is, right?

_Tooth fairies, Santa, the Easter Bunny, Sandman._

_And a boy with frosty white hair._

Just then, a larger, human-sized fairy flits by, a worried expression on her face.

“They, they took my fairies! And the teeth! All of them! Everything is gone! Everything.” She drifts toward the floor, hopeless. 

_So this is mother fairy?_

The others rush toward her, attempting to comfort. 

The saved fairy from earlier leaves the boy’s hood and flies toward her.

“Oh thank goodness! One of you is alright!”

The boy turns to Leo, as if to share the reunion, and seems surprised that Leo is looking directly at him.

“I have to say, this is very, very exciting.”

Leo jumps, and sees a man made of shadows standing above the group. The cold feeling from before returns full-force. It's worse this time, it feels like Leo is _ dying. _His eyes are wide and breathes in short gasps. For some reason, Leo thinks about the fire. The fire that killed him. The fire that killed his mom. He feels sick.

“The Big Four, all in one place. I'm a little star-struck.” 

The man pauses.

“Did you like my show on the globe, North? Got you all together didn't I?”

_So Santa’s name is _North_?_ _Was this deemed before or after he settled down at the pole?_

The Tooth fairy darts towards Mr. Tall, Dark, and Evil, rage evident in her voice.

“Pitch, you have got thirty seconds to return my fairies!”

Pitch_ ? What is he supposed to be? The boogeyman?_

“Or what?”

The man-_ Pitch- _disappears, his voice continues to echo around them.

“You’ll stick a quarter under my pillow?”

North seems to snap out of whatever stupor he was trapped in.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Maybe I want what you have.” Pitch says with a sneer, “to be believed in.”

The boy flinched backward.

“Maybe I'm tired of hiding under beds.”

_Oh my gods he's _monologuing.

“Maybe that's where you belong.” The rabbit says, venom in his voice.

Pitch disappears again, like using Shadow-Travel, and reappears under the platform they're all standing on.

“Go suck an egg, Rabbit.”

Rabbit attempts to hit him, yet Pitch fades just in time, like a melting shadow.

“Hang on, is that..._ Jack Frost? _”

Pitch refers to the boy in blue, whose name appears to be Jack. 

_So we have Santa, Jack Frost, the Easter Bunny, Mom Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman against the embodiment of pure evil? _

_ Well, them and a demigod with a dragon._

“Since when are you all so chummy?” Pitch cackles, like some kind of Disney villain.

“We're not,” Jack says.

Pitch leans over the rail as if he owns the place.

“Oh good, a neutral party. Then I'm going to ignore you. But, you must be used to that by now.”

Jack looks like a kicked puppy. Even though Leo barely knows him, he feels as if sadness is the worst possible expression Jack’s face could make.

The same way Pitch took a while to notice Jack, it seems it takes a while for his eyes to not completely slide over Leo.

You know, the boy with the giant mechanical dragon. Completely unnoticeable. Either the mist is playing some part or Pitch is so caught up in his own self-importance that he fails to notice threats around them.

“And who are you supposed to be?”

Leo, being Leo, doesn't give a straight answer.

“Wouldn't you like to know?”

For some reason, Pitch chuckles.

“You think you're a funny guy, then? Is that your pet?”

Weather Pitch was talking to the others or about Festus, Leo can't help answering.

“Their name is Festus, thank you very much.”

“You’ll be interesting for sure. Its been a while since the guardians had children fight their battles.”

“Pitch! You shadow sneaking rat-bag! Come here!” Rabbit goes after Pitch, a boomerang at the ready.

Really, after that, everyone sort of loses their cool.

Until, of course, the nightmare.

The same as the monsters from earlier, but larger, a dark sandy horse with glowing eyes. Leo’s knees feel weak. The horse demon rears up and slams back down onto the floor. The sound reverberates through Leo’s skull. He can't move.

After that, Leo is sort of stagnant, the fear swirling around his head prevents him from doing anything but watch as Pitch waxes poetic about when the whole world was filled with the terror of trying to survive. The same terror any demigod feels. How the Guardians chased it away with hope and wonder and sweet dreams.

The column behind Pitch starts to decay, turning ashy and chunks falling to the floor.

“Oh look, it's happening already,” Pitch says, delighted.

“What is?” Leo and Jack say at the same time, snapped out of whatever state they were in before.

Pitch grins. “Children are waking up and realizing the Tooth Fairy never came. I mean, such a little thing, but to a child…”

He lets the sentence trail off, his grin growing.

“What's going on?” Jack asks, moving closer to the Tooth Fairy.

She drifts to the ground, shocked. “They don't believe in me anymore.”

“Didn't they tell you, Jack? It’s great being a Guardian! But there's a catch. If enough kids stop believing, everything your friends protect: wonder, hopes, and dreams, it all goes away. And little by little, so do they.” Pitch gestures towards the Tooth Fairy, whose feathers are started to loosen and fall out. “No Christmas, or Easter, or little fairies that come in the night. There will be nothing. But fear, and darkness.”

He pauses for dramatic effect, “and me. It's your turn not to be believed in!”

Festus moves first, snapping their jaws right at Pitch’s head. Unfortunately, he doges, and Shadow-Travels onto the Nightmare’s back.

_ Oh, it's a dark horse. Nightmare. Made of fear. Ha. _

Pitch steers the Nightmare to leap off the edge, followed by the Guardians and Jack.

_ I shouldn't be here. This isn't my fight._

\--. --- ..--.. Festus clicks.

“Yeah, ok.”

Leo goes after them.


	2. Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late! I'm not really good at writing :///

Jack lands next to Tooth in the Lagoon. She’s not her bubbly self, clutching a tooth box in her hands. Baby Tooth is with her, attempting to comfort her mother. Jack crouches next to them.

“So what’s your story mate?” Bunny says to the newcomer-Leo, he had mentioned earlier.

Leo was about the same height as Tooth, which meant he was pretty short. He had curly hair and seemingly amber-gold eyes. Oh, and a dragon, that was important. He had a large, bronze dragon named Festus.

“Well-” Leo began.

Jack tuned their conversation out, no matter how interested he was in the boy, he's more worried about Tooth.

“I'm sorry, about the fairies.”

She lets out a watery chuckle. “You should have seen them. They put up such a fight.”

“Why would Pitch take the teeth?”

“It's not the teeth he wants, it's the memories inside them.” Tooth stands up and flits over to a mural displayed on a rock face.

Jack follows her, the water underneath his feet freezing. “What do you mean?”

“It's why we collect the teeth. They hold the most important memories of childhood.”

She makes a vague gesture toward the mural.

“My fairies and I watch over them. When someone needs to remember what’s important, we help them.”

“We had everyone’s here. Yours too.”

_What?_

“My memories?”

“From when you were young. Before you became Jack Frost.”

“But...I wasn't anyone before I was Jack Frost.”

“Of course you were. We were all someone before we were chosen.”

Behind them, North carries on a conversation with Leo. Making him laugh at Bunny’s embarrassment. “You should have seen Bunny!”

“Hey I told you to never mention that!”

Leo giggles; a short, exuberant sound. Jack can hardly wrap his mind around all of this.

“That night at the pond...I just, I assumed,” Tooth floats closer to him, clearly concerned at his change in tone. “Are you saying, are you saying I had a life before that? With a home? And a family?”

“You really don't remember?” She asks.

Jack looks like someone who finally found a flashlight after wandering dark woods for days. “All these years, and the answers were right here! If I find my memories, then I’ll know why I’m here.” He turns to Tooth, determination in his gaze. “You have to show me.”

Jack speeds across the pond to the large stone shadowing the others.

“I can't Jack, Pitch has them.”

“Then we have to get them back!” Jack exclaims.

Suddenly Tooth’s face crumples, more in surprise than pain, as a patch of her feathers fall out and float to the ground. Everyone turns to the mural on the cliff face as it begins to disintegrate. Tooth sounds devastated. “The children, we’re too late.”

Everyone looks as if their heart had been pulled out.

Then North and Leo turn to each other.

“No! No! No such thing as too late!”

“Are you thinking what I'm thinking?”

“Yes! Idea! Hah!”

North rounds on Bunny, his sword in hand, gesticulating wildly. He’s absolutely gleeful at his revelation, but really he looks like someone who had too much to drink.

“What if-” Leo starts.

“We collect the teeth!” North finishes, exuberant.

“What?” Tooth asks, disbelief in her voice.

“We get teeth! Children keep believing in you!”

“We’re talking seven continents! Millions of kids!”

“Give me break! You know how many toys I deliver in one night?”

“And eggs I hide in one day?”

“Festus and I fly pretty fast, we can help too! If you’ll have us that is…”

North turns to Leo and Festus, almost like seeing them for the first time. His eyes soften, and at that moment Jack can see the jolly Santa Claus that makes children believe and wonder. 

“Of course, Leo.” He rounds on Jack. “And Jack! If you help us, we will get you your memories.”

Jack looks at the guardians. Tooth giving him a friendly smile, Sandy a thumbs-up while Bunny just groans. Leo looks excited, and also determined, while Festus growls a light happy? Clicking sound. He turns back to North.

“I’m in.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dah Dah Dah I cant write. Sorry it's so short! I dont really know how to juggle a whole bunch of characters!! But! here is the next chapter!


	3. Leo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The race is on

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im here again! sorry to bother you if this isnt what youre looking for ^4^

“Quickly, quickly!” North laughs, then falls back down another chimney.

How _ exactly _he managed to do that Leo had no clue, especially when he came up a different chimney. Maybe they were all connected? And worked like the snowglobes? So each chimney acted as a network, so any chimney that North went down gave him access to all other chimneys? But then how did he get into houses without chimneys? Did he use his snow-

..-. --- -.-. ..- … Festus creaks below him.

“Right, sorry.”

Bunny and Jack race across his vision. Competing and arguing, but that seems to be their norm. 

“Is that a challenge cottontail?”

“Oh, you don't wanna race a rabbit, mate.”

North bursts out of another nearby chimney. “A race? Is it a race?” Then pops down another one.

_Seriously, how does that work?_

He bursts up again. “This is going to be...” He pops down, and bursts up a few roofs away.

“Epic!”

And they were off. What started as simply collecting the teeth quickly became who could get the most. Easy for those who could just pop down chimneys or could summon tunnels to come up out of the ground. Not so easy for a boy and a large bronze dragon. Thankfully the mist would cover up Festus’ true form, but Leo was still apprehensive about any monsters looking to get revenge on Gaea’s killer.

_No. No more of that. Don’t think about it. Don't think about dying. Don't think about burning._

A race. Leo might have a _ few _tricks up his sleeve.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Leo laughed as he sped away from the house, a growing bag of teeth present in his hand.

“Hey! That was mine!” Bunny shouted.

“Sorry, I didn't see your name on it!”

See, Leo may not be able to pop down chimneys or fly through walls like Tooth. But he’s a son of Hephaestus, and unlocking windows from the outside was like using jumbo legos as an infant. The same goes for temporarily disabling any alarm systems.

Really, with all of them combined, along with the competitive streak, they all finished in record time. With maybe a few mishaps, such as Bunny blowing up North or Sandy accidentally knocking Leo off a roof.

But still; Tooth was impressed.

“Wow, you guys collect teeth and leave gifts as fast as my fairies!”

\--- .... / -. --- Festus clicked.

Leo’s eyes widen. 

“You guys have been leaving gifts, right?”

Well, crap.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Which meant there they were, in a laundromat late at night, putting whatever dollar bills they had in a coin dispenser.

Unfortunately, the coins didn't last forever, considering that hey, different countries use different currencies, which meant that their quarters quickly became useless.

Which led to them giving holiday-themed gifts. Eggs for Bunny, Christmas decorations for North, and normal currency for those who weren't trying to show each other up.

Leo started to leave little mechanical toys when he ran out of that country’s currency. A small bronze dog for a little boy in Russia, a silver bear for a girl in Canada, and the list went on.

Eventually, he and Festus came across Jack and Tooth in a kid’s room in Burgess. Along with North clambering in through said kid’s window.

Looks like this is the meeting spot.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“How you feeling, Toothy?” Leo hears North ask as he shimmies through the open window.

“Believed in.” 

“That’s what I want to hear!” He laughs.

Leo falls though. And lands at Jack’s feet. Because of course he did.

“Did you have fun?” Jack asks, joy dancing across his expression.

“Besides the constant falling and the once that Festus crushed me, yeah. It was pretty fun.”

“Oh, I see how it is.” Bunny pops out of his tunnel in the floor. “All working together to make sure the rabbit gets last place.”

North shushes him as Jack shows off his haul.

“You think I need help to beat a bunny? Check it out Peter Cottontail.”

“You call that a bag of chompers?” Bunny hefts a larger sack, “Now that's a bag of chompers.”

“Alright, alright, you're both pretty,” Leo pulls out his own sack from Festus out the window. Which is only slightly larger than Bunny’s. “But I think we have the upper hand.”

“Gentlemen, gentlemen; this is about Tooth! It's not a competition! But if it was-” North shows off an even larger sack. _ Figures. _“I win!” he shouts and dances around the room.

Then a sudden light shines on all of them.

“Santa Claus?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yell at me over on tumblr if you want?  
Im still called that-one-valfrost-shipper


	4. Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen but not really and Jamie is really excited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been a while!!

  
  
  


Jamie, sitting up in bed, wide-eyed with a flashlight trained on all of them, is not what Jack expected when they began this endeavor.

“The Easter Bunny, Sandman, The Tooth Fairy!” Jamie points to each member of the group, grin getting bigger by the minute, “I knew you’d come!”

“Surprise! We came!” Tooth exclaims, attempted to distract him.

“He can see us?” Jack asks, a small flicker of hope welling up inside him.

“Most of us.” Bunny quickly crushes it.

Jack glances over to Leo, who unsuccessfully is attempting to melt into the wall. Jamie, as most children do, notices what desperately doesn't want to be noticed.

“Who are you?” He asks, seemingly unaware of Leo’s apparent inner panic.

“Uh, hi. I’m Leo? Sorry for crashing into your house without an invitation.”

Jamie, who was previously placid has suddenly leaped from his bed and rushed to question Leo.

“Are you a myth too? Or a cryptid? Do you originate in America? Do you have a last name? Do you have powers?”

Bunny turns to Sandy, “We should knock him out before it's too late.”

“And I have Festus, they’re a dragon-”

“You have a dragon!?”

Sandy puts his fists together, fully prepared to punch a child.

“With the dreamsand, ya gumbies.”

Jamie’s Greyhound rises off the corner of the bed, nose trained on Bunnymund’s scent, Jamie looks back from his, albeit one-sided, conversation with Leo to where the growls are originating.

“Abby no! That's the Easter Bunny!”

Bunny gently drops his bag, holding out his paws, “alright, nobody panic.”

Jack looks incredibly pleased with this turn of events.

“But that, that's a greyhound.” Jack gestures from the dog to Bunny, “do you know what greyhounds _ do _to rabbits?”

Bunny rolls his shoulders, “I think it's a pretty safe bet he’s never met a rabbit like me-”

Jack rolls his eyes, catching Leo’s in the process. He’s not so subtly nodding in the direction of Jamie’s bedside table, which just so happens to hold an alarm clock. Leo’s eyes are wide, buzzing with anticipation.

“Six foot one, nerves of steel, master of tai-chi and-”

Jack can't help it, he reaches over and sets it off. Abby reacts immediately.

“Crikey!”

Bunny takes off, hopping around the room with a greyhound nearly biting his tail.

Jamie attempts to rein her in, “Stop! Sit!”

Sandy loses his grip of the dreamsand ball in his hands, bobbing it wildly. Abby rushes by him, forcing the ball outward and straight toward North, who ducks at the last second, allowing the sand to smack Tooth right in the face.

Tooth lazily drifts downward, falling into slumber, golden teeth floating above her head.

The dreamsand zooms around the room like a pinball, knocking out Bunny, then Abby, North, and finally Jamie. Only Jack, Leo, and Sandy are awake.

“Well, that could have gone better.” Leo speaks, gently picking up Jamie and placing him back down in his bed.

“My bad.” Jack says, unapologetic.

Around the sleeping guardians are golden dreams. One of Bunny’s carrots has taken a candy cane from North and used it as a dapper dance partner.

“Oh, I really wish I had a camera right now.” 

Both Leo and Sandy throw amused looks Jack’s way. Though Sandy looks more disapproving and Leo appears excited at the prospect.

Festus lets out a low growl.

Leo immediately loses all humour from his face. “Something’s outside.”

Jack turns to see a Nightmare flash by the window, Festus nipping at his heels, not very helpful when it's made out of sand.

Jack leaps out the window, followed closely by Leo. “C’mon! We can find Pitch!”

Sandy hesitates, casting one last look around the room before going after them.


	5. Leo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh look its Pitch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter??? So soon???

  
  


Festus shoots off, glad for the chase. Three Nightmares are in front of them, weaving around and over rooftops, looking for children to give bad dreams. Leo, _ their brother _, is on their back, eyes trained on the beasts.

The blue one is in front of them, excited for action. He leaps forward wildly, gaining ground on the Nightmares. The three beasts split off, and Festus can no longer see the others, both had pursued a different target. Festus feels their brother’s message.

..-. --- .-.. .-.. --- .--/ .. -

Festus lets out a growl and does.

  
  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  
  


Leo zigzags through buildings, hot on the Nightmare’s heels. Adrenaline is coursing through his veins. He hears the further away shouts of Jack that spur him on. The Nightmare he and Festus are following takes a sharp turn downwards. Before they lose sight of it completely, Leo shoots out a small ball of flame.

The Nightmare crumples to the ground, Leo landing not far from it.

It looks different now. Still vaguely horse-shaped, it now sports a large gaping hole in its flank. What's more, it no longer takes the appearance of sand. Rather, it looks like glass. Sharp, dark glass shoot up from it, looking like dangerous spines. It no longer moves either.

“I think I killed it.”

Festus gives him a look, _ oh, you think so, do you? _

“Don't sass me.”

Leo taps the Nightmare and, yup, that's glass. Evil glass, but still glass nonetheless. He lays his hand over its neck and discovers that the position it was in while glass-ified was poorly balanced.

It careens toward the hard cement, shattering in the process.

“Well then.” Festus gives him another look: _ seriously? _

Leo is about to snark back, but he hears loud clanging until someone shoots off in the road before them.

_Is that?_

Leo sees Sandy come calmly down from a rooftop overhead. Jack close behind.

_Pitch is here._

  
  


_ ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* _

  
  


“Okay, easy! You can't blame me for trying Sandy!” From where Leo is, he can see both Pitch and Sandy’s expression. Pitch appears as weak, cowering, but Leo can see right through him. He has something up his sleeve.

“You don't know what it's like to be weak! And _ hated _ .” And Leo tries not to let the words get to him. But really, he _ does. _He knows what that feels like, but he never made some contrived diabolical plan to destroy all life on earth or give everyone night terrors for eternity.

“It was stupid of me, to mess with your dreams.” A little bit, yeah.

“So I'll tell you what,” Leo readies himself, Festus does the same deeper in the alley.

Pitch’s voice tone changes, more confident and sly. “You can have them back.”

Nightmares burst forward around them, from storm drains, alleyways, and rooftops. Soon, Jack and Sandy are surrounded. But not Leo.

Leo sees Jack mutter something to Sandy, a worried grin on his face. Pitch now sits atop a large Nightmare, the one from the palace.

Pitch leans forward, baring his teeth.

“Boo.”

_Is that what bad one-liners sound like? Remind me never to do that again._

The Nightmares begin to charge, but Leo gets to Jack and Sandy first, his left hand blazing with fire, his other resting on his toolbelt, prepared to draw a weapon.

The wave stops, seemingly aware of what Leo can do to them. Pitch stares on, his gaze curious.

“So you have some use after all.” Pitch’s grin widens.

“Leo-” Jack starts, almost...worried? About him?

_Alright, buddy._

Festus comes out of the shadows then, growling. Their gleaming ruby eyes are trained on Pitch.

“Clever you are, boy.” 

“Thanks. I try.” Leo shrugs.

“I know how you shattered one of my Nightmares. I remember that one, a little girl terrified of big dogs. Too bad it's gone now, it was such a delicious fear.”

“You're pretty creepy, you know that?”

Jack chuckles behind him. Pitch’s expression sours.

Pitch looks like he is about to say something, but the sound of bells fills the silence. North’s sleigh comes through the clouds, soaring right above Pitch’s head. His confused expression almost makes Leo want to laugh. North and the others are probably half asleep and bleary. 

Sandy uses the distraction to pull Jack and Leo away, propelling the three of them backward. Jack battles attacking Nightmares away with his staff. Leo blasts those that get too close for comfort with small fire blasts.

The other guardians come down from the sky, roused from sleep by the prospect of a fight. Jack and Leo head towards the sleigh, battling off Nightmares all the way.

Leo jumps off the back of a recently turned glass mare, free-falling for a second before Festus flies up underneath him. Jack is already aboard the sleigh. Sandy is-

Sandy is raised high with the clouds, swarms of Nightmares surrounding him. More join the herd from below. It's overwhelming, the individual mares indistinguishable amongst the swirling black mass.

Jack calls out to Leo, “We gotta help Sandy!”

Festus rears up, wings flapping wildly. They’re just close enough to see a dark arrow pierce Sandy’s back.

“No!” Jack leaps from the sleigh, flying toward the cloud.

Nightmares start colliding with Festus and the sleigh, slowing them. The writhing swarm consumes the little golden cloud that Sandy was previously on. 

“No! NO!” 

Jack rushes toward Pitch, only to be engulfed by Nightmares.

_Oh no._

Then, a blue flash deep within the black sand. Blue-white tendrils burst out of the cocoon. Gusts of wind blow through the sky, a massive wave of ice and frost following it. It shoots up through the sand, exploding snow right in Pitch’s face.

Jack _ screams. _

Then he falls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope all five of you that like this fic enjoy this


	6. Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack falls but someone is there to catch him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another???? Chapter??????  
Y'all im dying

Jack feels like his body is breaking apart. Freezing and snapping off. He has _ never _felt the cold the way he does now. Like it's everywhere, consuming him. He knows, somewhere in the back of his mind, that he's falling. He's barely there, slipping in and out of consciousness. He remembers Pitch, and the cold, and-  
  
He's no longer falling. Instead, something smooth and hard and _ warm _is underneath him. 

“I got you.” Leo. That was Leo.

Wait, wheres-where is his? Jack hears a small gurgling sound. The dragon? “Festus has your staff, don't worry Frosty.” Right, yeah. “North is leading us to the North Pole. You'll be able to rest more there.”  
  
Rest sounded good.

  
  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The ceremony was somber. Elves and yetis crowded around a stone dais, as the remaining guardians hold their hands with bowed heads.

Jack blinks rapidly. His eyes water.

He almost cries.

  
  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  
  


Leo joins him by the window after North leaves to check on the globe.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” Jack says, glancing at him.

“How are you holding up?”

Jack shoots Leo a look. “Right, stupid question.”

Jack lets out a small chuckle. For whatever reason, sadness just doesn't reach Leo. “How come you- you just seem so _ calm _about this?”

“Oh trust me, Frosty, I’m freaking out. Just better at pretending that everything is fine, I guess.”

Jack looks down, his expression twisting again.

“You know it wasn't your fault, right?”

That shocks Jack. How would Leo know the guilt he was feeling? Even though North had said he _ saved them, _some part of him still felt useless.

“I was the closest, I could have helped him.”

“Right. Faced off against Pitch by yourself, someone who's apparently been around for centuries, and was once the guardian’s biggest enemy. You dealt him a _ massive _blow. You can't win everything, Jack.”

“But I-” Something in Jack seems to snap. “I could have-”

“Don't waste time on could haves and should-haves. It happened. The best you can do is keep going. The past is behind us now.”

“You sound like you speak from experience.” Jack says, a little bit of the sadness drifting away.

“I've seen people die before, Frosty.” And, oh, the regret slams back in the forefront of Jack’s mind.

“Oh-I, Sorr-”

“You didn't know, it's fine.” Leo takes a seat next to him. “But yeah, it sucks. The guilt eats you alive. You keep imagining ways you could have helped _ what if I had been faster, smarter, just a little bit stronger then maybe- _Guilt isn't going to do anything except make you feel worse.”

“I- Thank you.”

Leo suddenly looks sheepish. “Sorry, didn't mean to barge in on your feelings.”

“No, no, it's fine. I think I needed to hear it.”

“Right! Well, the workshop is _ absolutely amazing. _” Jack watches as Leo lights up as he talks about all that he's seen so far. It's nice.

“And Festus is ecstatic-”

Before Leo can finish his sentence, North hurriedly bursts into sight.

“We are having a problem.”

And just like that, the content atmosphere withers away.

  
  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  
  


The problem was that the lights were disappearing. Little blinks of light, each one representing a child, flickers before being smothered.

“Look how fast they're going out.” Tooth flutters nervously.

“Its fear, he tipped the balance.” Jack says.

There's a tension in the room, so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Bunny steps up,” Hey, buck up ya sad-sacks. Come on! We can still turn this around! Easter is tomorrow, and I need your help. I say we pull out all the stops and we get those little lights flickering again!”

And just like that, a small bit of hope wells up in each of them.

  
  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

  
  


North swings open large doors, Jack and the others following him through his factory.

“Bunny is right.” North turns to the guardian in question, “as much as it pains me to say, old friend, this time Easter is more important than Christmas.”

Bunny stops in his tracks. “Hey! Did everyone hear that?!”

North continues on as if nothing was said. “We must hurry to the warren.” He turns to address the youngest in the group, “Leo, Festus can stay in the workshop, along with Baby Tooth.”

Leo nods.

“Everyone! To the sleigh!”

Bunny lets a smirk pull up a corner of his mouth. “Oh no, mate. My warren; my rules. Buckle up.”

Bunny taps the ground with his foot, making a rabbit hole open up beneath them. Jack hears North swear in the name of a composer before, once again, Jack is falling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leo should follow his own advice


	7. Leo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Easter is underway and Jack hears something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for changing styles midway through the chapter :p 
> 
> as always I cant write.
> 
> Come yell at me?
> 
> That-one-Valfrost-shipper on tumblr

  
  


Leo plummets and slams face-first onto cool mossy earth, groaning. He looks up, seeing Jack, Bunny, and Tooth gracefully landing while he, North, and the yetis all crashed spectacularly. Typical.

North chuckles. “Buckle up. Is very funny.”

Bunny spreads his arms, showing off his home. “Welcome to the warren.”

And it is worth showing off. The group is only in a small antechamber, but it's decorated with beautiful spring flowers and mossy stones, towering smooth walls and a gentle breeze coming through a nearby tunnel.

Bunny’s ear twitches. “Somethings up.”

A high-pitched scream echoes from within the warren, getting louder as whatever is making it grows closer. Eggs with legs, _ okay that's weird, _scuttle out through the front tunnel as the screaming gets louder. It's then that Leo realizes that it's the scream of a human. A young one.

The others had already readied their weapons and charged forward with a battle cry.

“Guys wait!”

There's no need. A small girl with choppy blonde hair holding a few eggs bursts through the entrance.

“Sophie?” Jack questions.

The guardians withdraw their weapons, sheepish. Leo chuckles when Jack turns back towards him, his face pink with embarrassment.

The girl, Sophie, giggles and drops the eggs, right before chasing an elf that had fallen with the group.  
  
“Elf! Elf! Elf!”

Bunny turns to the rest of them, incredulous. “What is she doing here!?”

North pats his coat pocket, seemingly just realizing something. “Ah. Snow globe.”

“Crikey! Somebody do something!” Bunny’s gaze lands on Jack, who holds his hands up in surrender.

“Don't look at me, I'm invisible, remember?”

Tooth flies forward, confident. “Don't worry, I bet she's a fairy fan! Its okay little one.”

Sophie gasps at Tooth. “Pretty!”

“Awww! You know what, I got something for you! Here it is!” Tooth pulls out something, showcasing it to Sophie with an open hand. “Look at all the pretty teeth with blood and gum on them!”

Sophie runs away screaming.

Jack laughs. The guardians cringe. Leo starts towards Sophie, intent on pacifying her.

“Blood and gums? When was the last time you guys actually hung out with kids?”

Leo hears the guardians bicker behind him, but he's too busy trying to comfort the girl.  
  
“Hey, your name is Sophie right?”  
  
Her previous apprehension is gone as she nods her head.  
  
“Well, it's nice to meet you. The names Leo.” His tone changes, “Wanna see something cool?”  
  
She nods furiously, giggling. Leo summons a tiny controllable flame in his palm, deep red, the coolest he could make it. Sophie stares at it, mesmerized. Leo makes the flame dance in his palm, until it takes the shape of a rabbit, hopping around Sophie’s head. She laughs.  
  
Behind them, Jack has worked his magic over Bunny, making the previously grumpy guardian’s eyes alight.  
  
And just like that, preparations for Easter get underway.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The guardians flit about the warren, helping up fallen eggs and entertaining Sophie. Tooth is painting, Jack and North guide the streams of thousands of eggs with _ legs and feet. _ Which is, quite possibly the most disturbing thing Leo had witnessed besides his own body reforming from ashes but-  
  
Nope. The leg eggs are the most disturbing thing he's witnessed. Period.  
  
Besides that, the eggs are crowding under flowers to get coloured, then take a bath in a technicoloured river. But no matter how many disturbing eggs prance about. Leo fears there won't be enough. It seems so weak compared to the monsters that Pitch has on his side.  
  
_ Wasn't it the same way against Gaea? _ _  
_ _  
_ Jack lands next to Leo, a smile plastered on his face, but behind that he looks nervous.  
  
“You too?” Jack doesn't need to elaborate.  
  
Leo nods. “Guess we’ll just have to hope, huh?”  
  
Right in front of the pair, Sophie has decided to take a nap on top of Bunny. She's curled up in his lap, overlooking a wide cavern where coloured eggs move through separate tunnels. Jack and Leo sit down on either side of Bunny, watching the pastel rainbow underneath them. Sophie yawns and rolls over, turned toward Bunny.  
  
“Not bad,” Jack speaks, finally.  
  
“Not bad yourself.” It appears that he and Bunny have unofficially reconciled, and that sparks a small flare of happiness inside Leo. Things are looking up for them. All of them.  
  
North and Tooth come up just behind. Tooth peers over Bunny’s shoulder at the sleeping Sophie.  
  
“I love her!”  
  
The guardians look from Sophie to Leo, to Jack, who is oblivious to their gaze. But Leo sees that they are starting to accept him as one of their own. Leo thinks about the rest of the seven, of his siblings back at camp, but quickly squashes the feeling down. They’re better off without him.  
  
“I think it's time to get her home.”  
  
Bunny starts to hand Sophie over to Tooth, but Jack stands, eager to prove himself.  
  
“How about I take her home?”  
  
Tooth balks. “Jack, no! Pitch is-”  
  
Jack hoists his staff, “No match for this.”  
  
“I can go with him,” Leo speaks. And everyone's gaze lands on him. Leo shrugs, “safety in numbers and all that.”  
  
Bunny relents first. “You two will be quick, I hope?”  
  
Jack nods, playful. “Quick as a bunny.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Thankfully, Bunny’s tunnels lead just about everywhere, so there was no need for awkward travel with Leo in tow without Festus. The pair is in Sophie’s room, who, apparently, is the sister of the excitable kid from earlier. Leo lays her down carefully on her bed, but her hand still grasps tightly on the collar of Jack’s hoodie. Jack tries to pry her off and only succeeds in making her roll off her bed and thump to the floor.  
  
“Sophie? Is that you?” a woman’s voice calls from below.  
  
Jack and Leo turn to each other, eyes wide like a caught trouble-making pair. They rush about, placing a soft blanket over her and tossing a stuffed animal beside her. Right before her mother reaches the top of the stairs, they escape out the window and to the ground below.  
  
Jack turns to Leo, “We should get back.”  
  
Leo nods, but just then Jack stops, his eyes wide.  
  
“Jack?”  
  
“I know that voice.”  
  
Leo, understandably, is confused. What voice? But before Leo can ask, Jack has taken off, flying through the air. Leo runs after him, his feet pounding the earth.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They finally stop in the middle of thick woods. Jack has led Leo on a frantic chase, each time he slows, he hears something and takes off again.  
  
But finally, they’ve stopped. Leo breathes heavily, even with his demigod stamina, he can't keep up with someone who can literally _ fly. _ They ended up in a clearing, with a rotted bed frame in the middle of it.  
  
“Well, that's not creepy.” Leo huffs to himself.  
  
Jack turns back to him. “Don't worry, we have time.”  
  
Jack moves as possessed, and with a few cracks of his staff, he brakes through the bedframe, revealing a dark hole that swallows the light around it.  
  
Before Leo can stop him, Jack leaps down. For a moment, Leo is alone, then he decides that whatever is down there is better than waiting.  
  
So, for the second time since this whole thing started, Leo follows downward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all know what comes next. And considering that Baby Tooth isn't here??
> 
> wonder whats going to happen.
> 
> By the way::  
Would y'all want Leo to be made a guardian? Im not really sure if he should be or not. If he was He would probably be the guardian of creativity or something. so...yeah.
> 
> have a nice day folks! :)


	8. Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Uh oh spagettios

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woop here it is!

  
  


Jack walks through the tunnel, Leo close behind him. The walls are oppressive, but Jack can still hear the echo of his name being cried out from someone he  _ knew. _ _   
_ _   
_ A little girl. The memories dance around his head but the second he tries to grasp an edge of a memory it flits away, as if never there. Leo tugs the end of his hoodie, trying to get him back up, away from the voice.   
  
“Jack, we shouldn't-”   
  
“I need to find out what that is.”   
  
“There's nothing here! We need to-”   
  
But Jack takes no notice of Leo’s panic. For once, something is calling out to  _ him. _   
  
At the end of the tunnel is an open cavern, huge iron birdcages suspended from above. Small fairies,  _ tooth fairies,  _ are inside. They take notice of their newcomers and start to tweet as their saviour has come. Jack leaps up and weaves through the swinging prisons. He shushes the twittering fairies, if something is here-   
  
_ Jack… _ _   
_ _   
_ He  _ knows  _ that voice.   
  
“I'll worry about the fairies,” Leo says underneath him. “Go find your voice thing.”   
  
Jack nods, and floats to where he heard the voice originate from.   
  
_ Jack! _ _   
_ _   
_ Tooth’s memory canisters are piled, tens of thousands of children’s memories. Jack shuffles through them, only looking for one name: Jack. He doesn't notice when the air around him grows stiffer, the shadows are longer, darker.   
  
“Looking for something?”   
  
Jack jumps. He swings his staff toward the voice- _ Pitch,  _ and sends out a blast of ice. But Pitch isn't there. He follows the echoes of his cackle though the shadowed labyrinth. Each time he thinks he sees Pitch, it's merely a shadow. Jack’s heart hammers.   
  
“Don't be afraid, Jack. I’m not here to hurt you.” Pitch stands on a bridge.   
  
“I’m not afraid of you!” Jack defends, cautiously creeping toward him.   
  
“Maybe not. But you are afraid of something.”   
  
Jack cautiously steps forward. Staff at the ready. “You think so, huh?”   
  
Pitch turns, a sinister grin amongst his face.   
  
“I know so, it's the one thing I always know. People’s greatest fears. Yours is that no one will ever believe in you.”   
  
And hot white panic burns in the base of Jack’s spine. Shadows dance around him, and Jack spins and falls. He expects to hit a wall but instead just crashes onto the ground. Pitch  _ cackles.  _ And Jack is right back where he started.   
  
“And worst of all, you're afraid you'll never know why. Why you, why you were chosen to be...this?”   
  
The entrance of the cavern has been blocked with old bricks. There's no escape. Pitch’s shadow grows nearer to him, nearly touching him.   
  
“Well, fear not. For the answer to that-”   
  
Pitch is directly in front of him now, clutching a tooth box. Jack’s eyes widened.   
  
“Is right here.”   
  
Jack’s painted face stares back up at him. Brown eyes and brown hair instead of his blue and white. But it's him. Him, Jack Frost.   
  
“Do you want them, Jack? Your memories?”   
  
Jack can't do anything but stare. The last piece of the puzzle, the reason why he  _ exists. It's all right there.  _ Jack blinks, and Pitch is gone. His shadow drifts along columns and crumbling walls. Jack follows it through corridors, past the tooth fairy cages.   
  
“Everything you wanted to know…”   
  
Pitch’s voice echoes, reverberating through Jack’s skull.   
  
“...is in this little box.”   
  
Jack is in a labyrinth, each turn is a wall that wasn't there before, an unfollowable voice that's everywhere at once, and the same shadow mocking him every way he looks. They're closing in on him. The space he can move gets smaller.   
  
“Why are you like this? Unseen, unloved, unable to reach out to anyone.”   
  
Pitch pauses, thinking over his words.   
  
“You want the answers, don't you? You want to grab them and fly off with them. But you're afraid of what they might think.”   
  
Jack is cornered.   
  
“You're afraid of being a disappointment to them. Well, there's no need to worry about that. They’ll never accept you, never trust you, not really.”   
  
The shadows have completely consumed Jack, casting him in darkness. He tries to scramble away, screaming.   
  
“Stop it! Just stop it!”   
  
Thankfully, the shadows recede, but Pitch once again takes their place.   
  
“After all, I mean, you're not truly one of them.”   
  
Jack aims his staff at Pitch, desperation in his voice.   
  
“You don't know what I am!”   
  
Pitch scoffs. “Of course I do, you're Jack Frost! You make a mess wherever you go.” He spreads one arm, “Why, you're doing it right now.”   
  
Pitch tosses the tooth box to Jack, who catches it instinctively.  _ Why?-No. Oh no.  _ Terror is prevalent in Jack’s eyes.   
  
“What did you do?”    
  
Pitch smiles. “More to the point, Jack. What did you do?”   
  
Pitch backs up, melting into the shadows. Jack charges and is eaten by the darkness. He can't see anything until he flies out through the other side. When the fear and the voice and adrenaline aren't at the forefront of his mind, he  _ realizes. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ “Leo!” _ _   
_ _   
_ He tries to re-enter the hole in the wall, but the mossy stone stares back at him.  _ No. No no no. _ _   
_ _   
_ The echo of Pitch’s voice whispers in the back of Jack’s mind.  _ Don't worry, I won't hurt him much. Happy Easter, Jack. _ He realizes where he is. Bunny’s tunnels. He turns and sees thousands of broken eggshells are strewn about, looking as much as a massacre as it can. They form a path to the light at the end of the tunnel.   
  
“No.”   
  
The eggs that were meant to bring forth Easter and make children believe in the guardians again were destroyed.   
  
And Pitch had captured Leo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im not bitter at Jack leaving Baby Tooth in the movie...
> 
> Not at all.
> 
> also uhhhh....  
sorry Leo.


	9. Leo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pitch is creepy and bad

  
  


Leo knows that whatever Jack is hearing, it's important. Which is why Leo offers to worry about the fairies while Jack chases after his mystery voice.  
  
This, in hindsight, is a really stupid move.  
  
Leo knows he's in Pitch’s murder dungeon, evil lair, whatever. Leo also knows that Pitch could be lurking about. This is why spitting off from Jack is possibly the dumbest idea in the history of Leo’s dumb ideas.  
  
Well, it makes the top ten list, at least.  
  
But the _ desperation _ in Jack’s voice, like everything that ever mattered was in whatever he was hearing was too much for Leo. Because Leo _ knows _ what it's like to have something like that just out of reach, the need to _ know. _ It's probably worse for Jack, someone who has no memory of his past life.  
  
Which is how Leo ended up here, perched on top of a birdcage, trying every method he knows to melt or break the metal keeping the tooth fairies inside.  
  
Unfortunately, whatever its made of was a lot different than the nightmare he defeated, it's not made of sand, instead, it almost seems like Stygian Iron. Maybe not exactly, but Leo can feel the darkness radiate off the cold metal. That's another thing, even with Leo using especially-heated hands, the metal stays cold.  
  
He’s been working for whoever knows how long, and still hasn't seen any sign of Jack. Obviously, Jack can care for himself, but Leo hasn't _ heard anything. _  
  
He's about to take off, find Jack and break the cages together, when the fairies start to tweet like crazy.  
  
A cold, clammy fear takes hold of him, freezing him to the spot. He feels darkness behind him, deep and oppressive.  
  
_ Don't turn around don't turn around don’tturnaroundturnaround- _ _  
_ _  
_ “Hello, _ Leo.” _ _  
_ _  
_Its Pitch.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Another wall of shadow slams into him, exposing another fear, another time he's messed up, another failure.  
  
This time it's when Festus breaks. Except now _ he feels it. _ Like his body is coming apart, shattered and scattered to the winds. _ No- Festus is fine. They're at the workshop, they're fine. _ _  
_ _  
_ _ But are you? _ _  
_ _  
_ Leo can't feel them anymore, he's too far gone. Too deep in the never-ending darkness of Pitch’s shadows.  
  
“Come on, little dragon. You must have something better than _ that.” _ _  
_ _  
_ Another shadow slams into him, making his eyes burn and his throat constrict. He’s twelve. Teresa stands above him, a belt in hand. _ No-no, please. _ Then her face changes, showing Aunt Rosa, features contorted in fury. He can't hear her, but he knows the obscenities that she's screaming at him, the devil she's exposing him to be.  
  
“Now we’re getting somewhere.”  
  
Another shadow, this one leaving him winded and on the ground. He's burning. _ Burning burning, breaking apart. _ All he hears are screams and he knows that they're his own.  
  
Again, and he sees the seven fighting for their lives. Again, and Harley, _ his baby brother, _ is laying on the ground, blood pooled around him. Again, and Gaea has her earthen fist clenched around him, slowly squeezing the life out. Again, and the seven shun him, telling him he's too monstrous, too useless to be up with the heroes. Again, and Jack is turning to black sand under his fingertips.  
  
Again, and he's crying, he can barely breathe, and has already heaved his contents onto the ground.  
  
And his mother is burning. But it's not the same. He _ sees her. _ His hand is engulfed in flames and she's screaming he is _ killing her. _ _  
_ _  
_ And Pitch is laughing.  
  
Leo is broken down, tears mixing with the blood that trickles out his busted nose. He's a demon, his mother is _ dead, he killed her. _ _  
_ _  
_ And Pitch is _ laughing. _ _  
_ _  
_ _ “_I must say, I never expected something quite like _ this-” _ He cackles, “Your fears are absolutely _ glorious.” _  
  
Leo can't breathe. Pitch is above him, a hand grasped tightly in his hair, pulling him up to face him. He can just barely see the shape of Pitch’s face, vision blurred by exhaustion and tears.  
  
“You can't go to sleep yet, little dragon, we aren't done yet.”  
  
And everything  
  
Fades

To black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is fine :)


	10. Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo's back and more bad things happen. Festus is also Not Happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no excuse

Jack pushes himself across the woods as fast as he can. He needs to get to the guardians,  _ they can help.  _ Leo can't be trapped with Pitch any longer.   
  
Jack doesn't want to think about what could be happening to him right now. What is Pitch putting him through?   
  
He already fled back to where the rickety bed frame was found, but there was no entrance underneath it, no way to get back to Leo. The only option left was the guardians.   
  
He just had to find them.   
  
He spots two kids, disappointingly packing up their things. Bunny is in front of them, desperate.   
  
“I can't believe it.” The young girl says.   
  
A flicker of hope crosses Bunnymund’s face. “I know!”   
  
“There's no such thing as the Easter bunny.”   
  
And all hope Bunny may have had is instantly crushed underfoot. The children start to walk away, but Bunny stops in front of them, desperate for any chance that they’ll stay.   
  
They walk right through him. “They don't see me” he whispers to himself. Then again, lounder, realization dawning on him.   
  
_ This is my fault. All of it. _ _   
_ _   
_ Tooth lays a comforting hand on Bunny’s shoulder. Before Jack can think, the bushes behind him rustle. “Jack? Where were you?”   
  
North is behind him, his swords out and breathing heavily, obviously had just fought. North advanced on him, his eyes wide. “They every egg, crushed every basket. The nightmares destroyed it all, nothing made it to the surface.”   
  
“Jack!” Tooth flapped over, a weak smile plastered to her face. Then she sees his hands.   
  
“Where did you get that?”   
  
_ The box. _ Jack was clutching the memory box as if it could save him. “I was...its-”   
  
“Where's Leo?”   
  
Something akin to horror and realization dawned on her face. “What have you done?”   
  
“I didn't mean for this to happen, I'm sorry-”   
  
“You were with Pitch? That is why you weren't here!?” North advanced on Jack, his eyes cold and stormy. “And now Pitch has Leo.”   
  
The words cut through Jack like a blade. This was all his fault. If only he hadn't been so  _ stupid- _ _   
_ _   
_ “He has to go.” Bunny’s words were resigned, like he knew this was coming. He whirled on Jack, fury on his face. “We should never have trusted you!”   
  
Jack stumbles backward, this is what Pitch said would happen. North and Tooth can't even look at Jack, and Bunny is a hairbreadth away from punching him. He scurries away a safe distance from the guardians, and comes to rest nestled against a tree. The small Russian doll North had pressed into his hand at the beginning of this seems to burn.   
  
He pulls it out of his hoodie pocket and stares at the wide blue eyes.   
  
When he flees, it's the only thing left to show that he was ever there at all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Festus is screaming. Constant, pulsating growls that make the floor shake. The warm feeling in their chest is growing colder-their brother is in danger. But they can't feel where he is. It's cold and dark, and Festus can't  _ even feel him.  _ They claw at the door. The second they began shouting, the big furry ones corralled them. The feeling in their chest grows thinner, duller.

It snaps.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Long shards of ice grow around Jack’s feet as he overlooks the ocean. The urge to throw the little gold box in his hand is great. His memories, the person he was, everything is trapped inside. But what good is it now?   
  
“I thought this might happen.”   
  
Jack stiffens. Pitch, Pitch is  _ here. _ _   
_ _   
_ “They don't believe in you, don't trust you. Never did, really. But I understand.-”   
  
Jack whips around, sending a blast of ice speeding toward him, just narrowly missing the mark. “You really don't.” Jack’s voice is cold, dangerous.   
  
Pitch looks nothing but amused. “No? I don't understand?”   
  
Jack lashes out, wave after wave of ice and frost being deflected and overrun by walls of inky black sand. Pitch is shouting, but his words fall on deaf ears. Pitch lunges forward, forcing Jack into the air. Jack sends spirals of snow and wind downward, creating a maelstrom of dangerous shards. When the snow settles, large towers of ice reflect back Jack’s face. Pitch is nowhere to be seen.   
  
But his voice echoes. “All those years trapped in the dark. I thought, surely no one can know this, know what this feels like. But apparently I was wrong.” Pitch comes out behind a spire, his face full of compassion, like he and Jack are kindred souls. Even though they are nothing alike. Jack will  _ never  _ be like him.   
  
Jack isn't buying his act for one  _ second. _ _   
_ _   
_ “We don't have to be alone, Jack. Children will believe in you!”   
  
That at least gives Jack pause. The mere thought seems laughable now. But Pitch soldiers on. He gestures to the horrific sculpture made of ice and darkness before them. It's terrifying to look at, like at any second it could come alive and wreak havoc.   
  
“We can make them. They’ll believe in both of us.”   
  
“No!” Jack shouts, “They’ll fear both of us! And that-” He pauses, “that is not what I want.”   
  
Jack readies his staff with renewed purpose. “Now, give back Leo and leave me alone.”   
  
Pitch looks rejected. Then anger takes over his face. “Fine. Do you want to be left alone? Done.”   
  
Pitch summons up a column of dark sand, melting out of the ground. He plunges his hand in it, and the sand falls away, revealing Leo.   
  
Oh  _ gods, Leo. _ _   
_ _   
_ It's as if he's unsure whether to be panicked or dead. His eyes are wild and unseeing and yet he makes no thrashing moves. Pitch’s hand is curled dangerously around Leo’s throat, just barely allowing him to breathe. The severe height difference prevents Leo from fully touching the ground.   
  
Jack sort of wants to cry at the sight of him. His dirty hair and bruised face, ripped shirt, bleeding nose, and tear-stained cheeks.   
  
Jack is going to  _ kill  _ Pitch.   
  
Jack lunges forward, but the sound of Leo choking stops him in his tracks. Pitch is dangerously close to crushing his windpipe, he would just need one good squeeze. Now Leo is shaking, clawing at Pitch’s grasp.   
  
“The staff, Jack.”   
  
The storm that was brewing behind them settles, and everything is unnaturally still.   
  
“You have a bad habit of interfering. Hand over the staff.” Pitch pauses “and I let him go.”   
  
There's not any hesitation. Even with Leo desperately shaking his head, only making Pitch’s hold tighten, Jack hands over the staff, steel in his eyes.   
  
“Now let him go.”   
  
Pitch chuckles. “No. You said you wanted to be alone?” His demeanor darkens. “So be alone!”   
  
Just then, Leo lights up his palms pressed to Pitch’s hand, searing the shadow-flesh.   
  
Pitch shrieks, releasing Leo to crumple onto the ground. He kicks Leo in the stomach, sending him tumbling down a dark, icy chasm.   
  
“No!” Jack rushes toward the side, prepared to go down after him.   
  
Snap.   
  
Jack’s chest explodes in pain like his ribcage is collapsing. Pitch stands, holding the broken halves of Jack’s staff. He grins, manic and feral. Jack doesn't even register what's happening until Pitch raises his unoccupied hand, sending a wall of shadow to crash into Jack. Jack flies backward, hitting part of an ice wall behind him. As the ice cracks, he slowly falls forward, into the same chasm Leo fell just moments before.   
  
The last thing he hears as he falls is Pitch’s triumphant laughter.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that it took so long But! here it is!


	11. Leo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They make it out.

  
  


Leo blearily blinks open his eyes. Everything _ hurts. _ His back, his legs, his face. Leo sees the crevice that he fell through. It looks like a 20 ft drop, the only way he's alive right now is his demigod status.   
  
“-eo? Leo!” Jack’s voice cuts through Leo’s head, bringing him back to the matter at hand.   
  
Jack is awkwardly peering over Leo’s body, worry etched into every movement of his hands. Leo tries to push himself up, but Jack doesn't let him.   
  
“You're hurt.” Is his excuse.   
  
“Oh really? Didn't notice.” Leo tries for a joke, but based on Jack’s face, it doesn't go over well.   
  
Leo knows he looks like crap. Bruised and bloody, but he's not sure what the extent of his injuries are, if only he had ambrosia-   
  
His tool belt. He's still wearing it. Leo tries again to sit up, but this time Jack steadies him. Leo prays that his toolbelt can give him a little reprieve.   
  
Thankfully, it does. The amber-gold chunk comes out wrapped in rough cloth. Leo quickly pops it into his mouth. It doesn't taste like much except warmth and home, and his mother’s face flashes in his mind. He wills himself not to start crying again, but it seems his tear ducts have already been spent.   
  
“Ambrosia?” Jack asks.   
  
“You recognize it?”   
  
He shrugs, “I've been around.”   
  
After the warmth has settled, Leo feels the coolness of the ice surrounding them. He shivers involuntarily.   
  
Jack notices and scoots closer. Jack isn't so much warm as he is less cold than the ice around them.   
  
Jack winces, “Sorry, all I can do is keep you cold.”   
  
Leo shrugs, there's not much more they can do. Leo is still too weak to generate enough fire to melt them out. And Jack’s staff-   
  
They're not getting out anytime soon. Leo could build a ladder using stuff from his belt, but he just barely has enough strength to continue sitting up straight, let alone stand.   
  
So waiting it is.   
  
A look of devastation crosses Jack’s face. “Pitch was right.”   
  
“..What?”   
  
“I make a mess of everything.”   
  
Leo presses himself further into Jack’s side. “Not true. You defeated his nightmares once, didn't you? And helped collect teeth in record time. You found his hideout.”   
  
Jack almost explodes. “But I couldn't save Sandy! I started helping so I could learn who I was! I ruined Easter! Because of me, you got captured and tor-!” He paused, not wanting to say the word, “you got hurt, because of me.”   
  
“But you saved me.” Leo stares into Jack’s eyes, imploringly. Jack looks away first.   
  
“I'm sorry. For this.”   
  
Leo sluggishly rests his head on Jack’s shoulder. “Eh, I'm not really a grudge-holder. And I've been through worse. Probably. Maybe. Actually nevermind, that sucked.”   
  
Thankfully, his comments bring a weak smile to Jack’s face, exactly what they were meant to do. “What's that?” Leo refers to the gleaming gold that peeks out of Jack’s hoodie pocket.   
  
Jack starts, like he's just remembering that it's there. He pulls out a sort of box, decorated with shiny glass panels and the like. Surprisingly, Jack’s face stares up from its side. He holds it like it has the secrets of the universe.   
  
“My memories. I just don't know how to open it.”   
  
“Maybe you just kinda-” And Leo gently guides Jack’s hand to the box’s opening. _ Man _is he _touchy_ today, probably due to the countless hours of fear and loneliness that he's just subconsciously seeking comfort.   
  
Jack makes contact with the box face, and the stained glass panels open up to reveal a soft golden glow of light blanketing a set of baby teeth. Jack goes still, completely still. His eyes are reflecting back the box’s light.   
  
“Jack?” No answer.   
  
Leo sits up, putting his hands on Jack’s shoulders he _shoves. _ _   
_ _   
_ “Jack!” Still nothing. Leo is starkly reminded of when they followed Jack’s mystery voice to Pitch’s lair.   
  
Precious seconds pass.  
  
Leo’s about to try again but Jack _gasps_, like waking up for the first time.   
  
“I saved her.” He whispers.   
  
Jack looks at Leo like seeing him for the first time. “Leo! I-I had a home, and-and a family! I had a sister! I saved her!”   
  
Leo watches as Jack moves about the cavern with purpose, searching for something.   
  
“We have to get out of here-aha!”   
  
Jack spots his staff, still broken in half and splintered. He tries to push them together, with no luck. He tries again, only splintering the halves further.   
  
“Here.” Leo pulls out a strip of cloth that the ambrosia came in and winds it around the staff’s pieces. So they stay together long enough for Jack to do whatever he's trying to do. Jack looks so fondly at him Leo has to suppress the blush he feels heating his cheeks.   
  
Jack presses the staff again, and this time a faint blue glow emulates from within, tying the staff together. Eventually, there is only a slight white scar branched by strips of cloth to show the staff was ever broken in the first place.   
  
Jack grins. Bright and joyful. He turns to Leo, sharing his excitement.   
  
Leo can't help but smile back.   
  
“Now we just have to get out and-” Jack trails off.   
  
“Unless you plan on dragging me out and flying us both across the ocean. It'll take me too long to melt open this glacier.” Leo thumps the ice wall for good measure.   
  
Jack looks stumped. Leo sees he's about to open his mouth when they both hear a loud, vibrant roar from somewhere above them.   
  
_ Gods, _Leo loves Festus.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Together, they make quick work of opening each tooth fairy cage. Leo makes a quick stop at one of the lower ground cages, trying to rouse the fairies upward. He tries not to notice the setting they're in, the dark stone surrounding them, the specks of blood on the floor. So he does what he does best, ignores it, and soldiers on.  
  
“Why aren't they moving?” Leo shouts up to Jack, who's having the same problem he is. None of the fairies show any indication that they even want to fly, much less being able to.   
  
“The lights!” Jack smacks his forehead, and comes to rest next to a globe to the side of the room.   
  
Leo jogs up next to him, his strength almost fully returned. “What are they?”   
  
Jack has a solemn look about his face. “Children. Believers in the guardians. Pitch is stomping out their belief.”   
  
Leo watches in sick fascination as the little pinpricks of light dwindle down.   
  
Six, then five. Four. Two go out at the same time.   
  
Leaving one small candle-like light blinking up at them.   
  
Hope blooms across Jack’s face.   
  
“I know who that is.”   
  
Leo is already climbing onto Festus.   
  
“Well then,” He holds out his hand.   
  
Jack takes it.   
  
“What are we waiting for?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters???? After like 2 months of silence???? Send help I may be dying...


	12. Jack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They find Jamie. Jack has two believers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so I know its been a while

Riding Festus is fun.   
  
It's different when Jack soars with the Wind. Both are freeing, sure, but there's something about the warm heaviness underneath him that changes the experience.   
  
Or maybe it's just Leo.   
  
The boy is just in front of him, clutching Festus’ horns. Periodically, he’ll look back and give Jack a small, warm smile. The experience of flight catches up to them, and their exuberance chases away the thoughts of Pitch that plague their minds.   
  
At a particular sharp dive, Leo shouts with gleeful exhilaration, and Jack’s pulse thrums.   
  
There's something about it, the joy he hears, that he can almost _ feel _ somewhere in his chest, that astounds him.   
  
All too soon, it's over. Festus lands right outside Jamie’s window in Burgess. Surprisingly, the landing is near silent, like an owl. Impressive for a couple thousand pounds of mechanical dragon.   
  
“Can people see you and Festus? You two aren't spirits.”   
  
“Don't worry. Mist’ll cover us. Besides, it's midnight.” Leo says, gently sliding off Festus’ head.   
  
Jack nods, and hops up to Jamie’s windowsill. Slightly, he pushes the window open to reveal Jamie, staring deep into a plush rabbit’s beady eyes.   
  
“I’ve believed in you a long time, okay? Like my whole life, in fact. So you kind of owe me now.” Jack watches as Jamie grows more desperate.   
  
“You don't have to do much. Just a little sign, so I know.” he sighs, almost teary. “Anything at all.”   
  
The silence is excruciating. Eventually, Jamie drops the plush, with a small “I knew it.” He doesn't believe in the guardians, doesn't believe in fairytales and fantasies. It's too late.   
  
Jack turns back to Leo. He doesn't know how to fix this.   
  
Leo makes a little _ go on _ motion with his hands, and whispers;   
  
“I believe in you.”   
  
Warmth and hope and pure, unbridled _ joy _ spark in Jack’s chest. And Jack knows that _ this _ is what that feels like. That belief. After centuries spent alone and hopeless, he _ actually _ has that feeling to clutch and hold on to.   
  
It leaves him breathless.   
  
Jack hopes to any higher spirit that Leo knows what he just did for him. But he can tell him later.   
  
For now, he slowly pushes Jamie’s window further, climbing in.   
  
The boy still sits on his bed, dejected and lost. Jack needs to think of something, anything to spark that belief once again in Jamie. The beady eyes of the plush rabbit stare up at Jack, like they’re meant to pass on knowledge by glare alone.   
  
Rabbit.   
  
Jack might be able to save this.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

An egg, a rabbit, and a snowfall later, Jack has gained his second believer.  
  
Jamie stands on his bed, astounded. Jack can hardly get the words out.  
  
“You said my name.”  
  
“You're Jack Frost.”  
  
“He sees me. He can _see_ me!”  
  
“You just made it snow!”  
  
“I know!”  
  
“In my bedroom!”  
  
“I know!”  
  
“You're real?”  
  
“Of course! Who do you think brings all the blizzards and the snow days? And when you went flying on that sled the other day?”  
  
“That was you?!”  
  
“That was me!”  
  
“But what about the Tooth Fairy? And the Easter Bunny-?”  
  
“Real! All of us are real.”  
  
A sneeze sounds just outside. Both Jack and Jamie turn to see Leo, who suddenly looks sheepish.  
  
“Sorry to intrude.”  
  
Jamie somehow grows more excited. “You! You were here! The dragon one! Leo!”  
  
“Uh yeah, thats me. Good to see you again, kid.”  
  
Jack hears Festus huff, and Jamie runs to his window in amazement. “Is _that Festus_!?”  
  
“The one and only.”  
  
Jack snorts at the two of them. Then remembers the reason they’re here.  
  
“Hey Jamie,” the child turns, “Wanna help us save the world?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

North’s sleigh comes careening down the road, before grinding to a halt after the reindeer come loose.  
  
Jack, Leo, Jamie, and Festus quickly join them.   
  
“Look!”   
  
Tooth tries to flutter to them, but her wings give out and she ends up on the ground. Festus reaches their nose out to help her up.   
  
“Leo. You are alright.” North rests a hand on Leo’s shoulder. Relieved and grandfather-ly.   
  
“Relatively.” Leo answers.   
  
“What are you doing here?” North addresses Jack.   
  
“Same as you.” He gestures to Jamie, who's trying unsuccessfully to hide behind Jack’s back.   
  
Jamie gives a shy wave upon being noticed, then quickly regains his confidence.   
  
“Where's the Easter bunny?”   
  
Jack looks around for six feet of angry fluff.   
  
“Losing Easter took its toll on all of us. Bunny, most of all.”   
  
Just then, a small, gray puff hops out of North’s sleigh.   
  
“Oh no.” Jack hears himself exhale.   
  
Leo is trying not to chuckle, but, somehow, Jack can feel the laughter radiating off him.   
  
“ _ That's the Easter bunny _ ?” Jamie asks, disbelieving, “What happened to him? He used to be big and cool! And now he's... _ cute _ .”   
  
Disgust crosses over Bunny’s face, before he starts to furiously attack Jack’s leg.   
  
“Did you tell him to say that? That's it! Let's go, me and you! Come on!”   
  
It takes everything in Jack’s willpower to not burst out laughing then and there. Jamie takes the intense look on Jack’s face as pain. Leo has no such reservations and is openly giggling.   
  
“No!” Jamie kneels next to Bunny. “Actually he- he told me you were real. When I was starting to maybe think you werent.”   
  
“He made you believe? In _ me _ ?” Bunny’s voice breaks.   
  
Jack and Bunny share a look. In that moment, Bunny trusted him again.   
  
Thunder crashed overhead.   
  
“He just has to crash every party, huh.” Jack hears Leo whisper beside him.   
  
The sky is darkened by a cloud of nightmares, their king atop them.   
  
“Get Jamie out of here!” Jack shouts.   
  
“Be careful!” Someone shouts, but Jack is already up in the air.   
  
Pitch watches Jack grow ever closer. He’s angry, his fury in his eyes. Jack is angrier, rage feeling all-consuming.   
  
“Jack Frost. Let's end this shall we?” Pitch dives, nightmares behind him.  
  
They meet head on.   
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this chapter half-written for about a month.


	13. Leo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh look the believers are together how about that

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im back! *insert dance number here*

  
  
Leo ducks as Festus shoots another boiling ball of flame at an incoming nightmare. He and Festus took up the back of the group to burn any patrolling nightmares. North was just barely in front of them, struggling to keep up.   
  
“Quick, this way!” Bunny called to the rest of them, leading them down an alley.   
  
The alley, unfortunately, is a dead end.   
  
“Other way! Other way!”   
  
Before the group could leave, Jack falls face-first onto a nearby dumpster.   
  
“Jack!” Leo and Jamie shout, holding him upright.   
  
“That was good try, Jack, A for effort!” North says.   
  
Jack just groans, if he had been mortal, even a demigod, that fall would have killed him instantly.   
  
“Hes stronger.” Jack whispers, “I can't beat him.”   
  
Leo sees North shoot Tooth a worried look, and he can understand the sentiment. Back when the group lost Sandy, Jack had been the only one able to dish out a decent hit. If Pitch has gotten strong enough that Jack can't even get close then-   
  
No. Leo can't be thinking like that. They  _ will  _ take down Pitch.   
  
An empty chuckle echoes throughout the alley. Menacing shadows streak out, burning out the lightbulbs overhead.   
  
“All this fuss over one little boy.”   
  
Leo pushes Jamie behind him. Jack supports himself on his staff, but puts himself slightly in front of both of them.   
  
Pitch  _ cackles _ . “One last believer who refuses to grow up. Of course, there are other ways to snuff out a light.”   
  
Nightmares stream through the alley, slowly. Pitch is just playing with them, like a dog plays with its food.   
  
“I can't tell you how happy I am to see you all like this. You all look  _ awful.”  _ Pitch finally comes out of the dark, atop the largest Nightmare Leo has seen yet. He has a disgustingly gleeful smile, all crooked teeth.   
  
Jamie is gripping Leo’s arm hard enough to bruise.   
  
“I'm scared.”   
  
Leo and Jack turn to Jamie at the same time.   
  
“Hey, kiddo. It's going to be okay.” Leo is starkly reminded of Harley, both boys have the same wide brown eyes, and Leo wants nothing more than to wrap Jamie in a hug and protect him from the world.   
  
“Yeah!” Jack starts, “we’re gonna have a little fun, instead…”   
  
“That's my center.”   
  
Leo can barely hear the whisper, he's already bundling Jamie up. Jack has a dazed look in his eye, before it gives way to determination. Leo gives a nod to Festus, who is pathetically cornered. They have to break through.   
  
“What do you think, Jamie? Do you believe in the boogeyman-”   
  
A snowball plants itself in the middle of Pitch’s face.   
  
The guardians burst forth, using the distraction to their advantage. Festus burns a whole through the wall of nightmares, and Leo quickly sets himself and Jamie atop their back. Jack freezes the ground, creating a slip and slide of ice.   
  
“We need to get Jamie’s friends!” Jack calls, already creating the pathway.   
  
Festus gives a questioning chirr to Leo. Jamie has his typical fanboy face on whenever something cool happens.   
  
“What do you say, you two? Want to go sledding?”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The guardians share between two trash can lids and they sled down Jack’s haphazardly constructed ice slopes. Festus glides along, belly down to go as fast as possible, raising their wings when they need to go slower. Jamie has traded riders, and is currently piggy backing on Jack, giving the appearance of flight to all non-believers.   
  
Leo is currently chaperoning a gaggle of children, all Jamie’s friends. Cupcake and Pippa sit behind him, with Monty on Festus’ neck and the twins, Claude and Caleb are on the sled holding onto Festus’ tail. Leo is grateful Sophie, who is apparently Jamie’s sister, didn't tag along. He has no idea where they could put her.   
  
If any of the demigods saw their little procession, Leo isn't sure what they would think.   
  
Finally, Jack leads the whole group to a gliding halt. Leo helps the kids dismount and watches them fawn over Festus and the guardians.   
  
Belatedly, he notices the dark clouds circling the point of one building. Pitch sits confidently above.   
  
The kids stop. Monty comes running past, gets a good look at the nightmarish scene before him, and promptly runs straight back to the safety that is Festus’ wing.   
  
“You think a few children can help you? Against this!” Pitch calls, voice booming over the city.   
  
“They Are just bad dreams. They can't hurt you.” Jack says, with the same voice a parent uses when lying to their child for their own good.   
  
“We’ll protect you.” Leo comes up in the front of the group.   
  
Maybe he isn't a guardian, but he's going to protect these kids. The guardians come up from behind him, forming a wall separating Pitch from the kids.   
  
“Aww, you'll protect them?” Pitch says, amused. “But who will protect you?”   
  
“I will.” Jamie states, stepping to the front of the wall.   
  
“I will.” Cupcake says, determined.   
  
“We will!” The twins shout, pushing each other to stand in front.   
  
“And me.” Chimes Pippa, taking a stand next to Cupcake.   
  
“I’ll try.” Monty finally comes in.   
  
They stand, a ragtag group of children, myths, a dragon, and a son of a god.   
  
Pitch laughs, but Leo can hear the fakeness of it, the tinge of reluctance in it. It's all showboating. He uses fear to control and when that doesn't work? Pitch is powerless.   
  
“Still think there's no such thing as the boogeyman?”   
  
A wave of nightmares descend upon them, taking up the entire sky, swallowing the moon. It sharpens into a single point and falls, straight to the front of the line, toward Jamie.   
  
“I'm not afraid of you!” Jamie screams, taking the brunt of the attack.   
  
All of them push up against the dark mass, and where each of the children’s hand touches it, it turns gold. Golden dreamsand cascades around them. Changing shape into dinosaurs and manta rays, unicorns and eagles.   
  
Tooth’s wings flutter, then she's back up in the air, joyous laughs all around. North gains all the cheery redness in his face, no longer needing his swords to prop himself up.   
  
Jack lets out a whoop of joy, and Leo is quickly following suit. Then a nightmare barrels past, straight for Bunny.   
  
“Crikey!”   
  
Right. As if the giant wave was all the nightmares Pitch had stored away.   
  
North throws down a snow globe, and yetis stream out, battle ready. Festus lets out a screech and bites into the nearest nightmare, shattering it completely.   
  
Jack takes off just as Bunny gains his height. After that everything is hectic. Leo fires fireball after fireball, turning all nearby Nightmares to inky glass, and shattering them with a hammer pulled out from his toolbelt.   
  
The kids continue turning nightmares into dreams. One of the twins makes a golden dragon, and Leo can't help but grin at the Festus look-alike.   
  
Something comes into his vision. It's the large nightmare from before. Eyes a burning orange and horns curled up toward the sky. It's not even doing anything, just standing there, watching.   
  
It's dangerous. More dangerous than the others. He has to get rid of it before it hurts someone.   
  
“Festus!” He shouts, the dragon in question’s head shooting up. “Keep the kids safe!”   
  
Festus growls an affirming noise, and Leo takes off toward the somehow familiar nightmare.   
  
The nightmare runs, not quick like the others, it  _ wants  _ Leo to follow it.   
  
Leo bursts into the edge of town, on an abandoned road, just one streetlamp still lit. He readies a flame in his palm.   
  
The Nightmare comes out from the darkness, cold and  _ angry. _ _   
_ _   
_ “What are you?”   
  
**Isn't it obvious, lion?** **  
** **  
** Leo stops breathing.

**I’m yours.**   
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh? whats this?

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


End file.
